Post-Soviet Mass Celebration and Kul'Turnost': The Survey of Urban Art Festival 'White Nights in Perm-2012'

Abstract

This paper employs category kul'turnost' for analysis of post-Soviet urban mass celebrations. Based on empirical data gathered during White Nights in Perm Festival-2012, paper delves into how Soviet ideological cliches and stereotypes are manifested in language of contemporary Russian urban inhabitants. The research setting is industrial city of Perm with approximately one million citizens. The research is based on a survey, conducted with 429 festival visitors. The results demonstrate that visitors have a complex structure of their opinions including cliches rooted in Soviet discursive heritage. Applying Bourdieu’s idea of the objectivisation of objectifier, paper reflects on influence of survey on usage of Soviet discursive heritage. The results suggest necessity to regard Soviet discursive heritage as an influential source of signifiers for articulating opinions in post-Soviet Russia. The paper also questions usage of Western originated scales as main tool for festival impact evaluation.